In general, a neon light is a lighting apparatus, which can be used for displaying characters and figures for advertising (hereinafter, referred to as an “advertisement pattern”, which includes all kinds of designs such as characters and logograms).
Further, existing neon lights usually utilize a linear light source.
In such a neon light utilizing a linear light source as described above, in the case where an advertisement pattern to be displayed has a linear shape, an electrode is formed along the advertisement pattern. In contrast, where the advertisement pattern to be displayed has a predetermined geometrical shape, the electrode is formed along the rim of the advertisement pattern. Further, high voltage is applied to the electrode, so as to induce an electric discharge. As a result, the electric discharge is generated at a portion, near which the electrode is formed, so that the rim of the advertisement pattern to be displayed is lit according to the colors of the phosphor elements in the advertisement pattern.
In the conventional neon light utilizing a linear light source as described above, since only the rim of the advertisement pattern is lit when the advertisement pattern is displayed, it is difficult to display the exact advertisement pattern a user wants to display. Moreover, when a portion of the electrode fails to generate electric discharge, the displayed advertisement pattern cannot have the desired shape.
Further, in the case of the neon light utilizing a linear light source, since the electrode is formed along the rim of the advertisement pattern to be displayed, the displayed advertisement pattern can have a desired pattern only when the electric discharge is generated over the entire electrode.
In order to enable the electric discharge to generate over the entire electrode, the shortest possible discharge path has to be arranged between electrodes having different polarities, which are formed along the rim of the advertisement pattern. This is because the neon gas, which generates electric discharge to display the advertisement pattern, has a tendency to generate electric discharge along the shortest discharge path between electrodes having different polarities. Therefore, in order to induce electric discharge over the entire advertisement pattern, the electrodes formed at the rim of the advertisement pattern have to be divided, so as to arrange a plurality of discharge paths, which are the shortest discharge paths.
In conventional neon lights as described above, the rim of the advertisement pattern has to be divided so as to form different discharge paths, in which electric discharge is induced. Such division not only makes the construction of the electrodes complicated, but also requires very high electric discharge voltage and limits the shape of the advertisement patterns which can be displayed.
That is, since the conventional neon light is a neon light utilizing a linear light source, the kinds of advertisement patterns which can be displayed by the conventional neon light are limited and the manufacturing cost of the conventional neon light is relatively high.
In consideration of these problems, the present invention is aimed at utilizing a surface light source, in which light is generated along the entire surface of the surface light source, in a neon light.
In the surface light source, light is emitted from the entire surface, which constitutes the light source. Therefore, in the case of a surface light source, a surface shadow or a cast shadow faintly appears as it is difficult to see the shadow, and there is little distortion of colors. That is, the surface light source uniformly illuminates the entire object, has little distortion of colors, and feels bright on the whole. Therefore, by utilizing the surface light source, a more efficient neon light can be obtained.